Slave
by Kurogane7
Summary: AU: A boy is bought as a slave, deals with an evil step-brother and step-father, goes through war, and captures the heart of a princess. Will his love for her come true? A Cinderella-story. Rated T for now...
1. The Boy

_**A/N: Ah, dag-gummit…I could not resist yet another AU…well, at least I'm getting practice in one way or another for my writing…this is mostly going to be a Cinderella-style story…Read and review, would you kindly? This way I'll know if it's worth it to continue.

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A ten-year-old boy sat among many of his people—his own sticklike frame and shoulder-length hair made it easy to mistake him for a girl. From his experience, many of the people in the same predicament as he came from other tribes wrangled up and sold in these auctions to the upper class or are prisoners of war that the Kisaragi Nation had conquered in their campaign to unite all of Wutai under their banner.

As he watched on in sadness as many of the adults were sold out to the highest bidder, he could not help but wonder what happened. He remembered seeing an emissary from the Kisaragi walking up to his father and saying that they wanted to bring all nations of Wutai together to make the land stronger. His father told the emissary that he would require a few days to come to a decision regarding the alliance, and that was it. He remembered that day as if it were yesterday—in fact, it was only two weeks ago that that same emissary had called in an attack squad to decimate his village, taking all women and children as slaves while killing or enslaving all the men…only then did the boy find that this was no emissary, but a slave trader looking for a quick buck. So much pain that day—so much death…and the worst of it came when he saw his mother being sold off to some fat pig some two days ago.

"And next up, we have a very special treat for everyone!" said the auctioneer, calling for three guards to drag a struggling boy up to the stage…not that there was much for him to struggle with—the conditions of his quarters were enough to weaken him. He was still alive by his own will, especially when they decided to cut down his already low proportion of food by only feeding him just a little bit per day for the last five days (the other slaves tend to beat him to the food first since they took advantage of his weakness). "This little brat is the prized treasure of a savage chieftain—his son in fact! Look at him! So beautiful—so fragile-looking—and with such fine hand-crafted jewelry on his body, it's hard to believe that this is actually a little boy!" With that, many of the men in the audience were laughing and making fun of the boy. "Practical work may not suit him, but it would seem that from the trouble that the slavers had while trying to catch him, there's more to him than meets the eye, the rest is up to your imagination! We're willing to start the bid off for one from royalty with a fair price of 70,000 gil! And the auction begins now at 70,000 gil!"

No sooner than the auctioneer had kicked off the auction than when people started raising their hands. A fat bearded man shot up his hand and offered 70,500 gil for the boy. The next one to make a bid was a bony woman offering 80,000 gil with her arm flailing in the air. Another person bid 90,000 gil for the boy—but he was automatically beaten out by a voice calling out for 100,000 gil belonging to a large and hulking man in armor, and then finally a feminine voice rang out to offer 900,000 gil. The crowd turned, and faced the owner of the voice, as did the boy—from what he could tell from his perspective, she was a well-built foreign woman neither fat nor skinny, and the looks of her implied that she was somewhat of an upper middle-class citizen at the very least judging from the rather valuable-looking jewelry on her body.

"900,000 gil! Going once! Going twice!" When nobody contended with the woman, the auctioneer's hammer landed on the wooden pad, and let out a final "Sold, to the lady in the red dress!" With that, a hook was clipped on the ring stitched onto the boy's leather collar as the handler dragged him off the stage and into a different tent…from there, he could see the woman's features more clearly as she stepped into the tent and sat down at the table—she had auburn-colored hair, and eyes the color of sea foam…she was the most angelic woman he had ever seen second only to his mother in his eyes. "Ah, Duchess, how good to see you," said the auctioneer, "it's actually strange to see you here, especially given your stand on slavery."

"I'm not going to purchase this boy for your sake Hojo," she said as she spat the name, "I'm purchasing him for his sake…I can see that you are clearly not treating your slaves properly…and unless you want me to bring up my findings on your slave trade to the emperor himself, then by all means, you will let me have this boy for free and you will start treating the slaves better, or Lifestream help me, I will buy you out of business with express permission from the emperor."

The man named Hojo simply laughed with overconfidence in his voice. "You have no proof of this! I will deny everything you say the second that you do!"

The woman pulled something out of her sleeve, and threw it at the auctioneer. From the slight glimpse that the boy had caught as Hojo inspected it, it was a small piece of paper with a picture of slaves being mistreated. "I have various pictures taken with many copies hidden, so don't bother trying to destroy them—and killing me will do you no good…it will only accelerate the plans I have in store for you and all involved in the despicable trade of slave trafficking like you. Either way, this nation will be cleaned up of scum like yourself!"

Hojo looked in absolute hatred at the woman…this woman seems to have quite a bit of power if she could use the threat of the emperor to have her way. In the eyes of Emperor Godo Kisaragi, nobody deserves to be a slave…and yet, there are people who still moonlight the slave trade on the black market. Part of the reason that Emperor Kisaragi has naught but the utmost in contempt for slavery was because he himself was a slave before he rose to power—and he believed that dependence on slaves would make a nation weak from corruption, and so he made the act of selling or even owning a slave illegal in the nation of Wutai.

The hatred in his voice was pure and venom-filled. "Fine! Take him! I don't care about some little slave brat!"

With that, the noblewoman pulled the boy in gently by the leash, and threw it away after unhooking it from his collar. "Come dear," she said in a sweet voice, somewhat motherly in his ears, "we have to get going. There's someone I want you to meet very soon." The boy took a few slow steps towards the woman, still puzzled by her behavior just as she was surprised that he understood her…why was she being so nice to him? And who was this person that she wanted him to meet? Before he could think anymore on the matter, the weakness overtook the boy, and he fell to the ground from starvation…

* * *

The boy woke up to find himself in a white room with various machines about him. He slowly sat up, and raised his arm only to see that it was being restrained by tubes going into his hand and attached to a large plastic bag filled with some sort of clear fluid, while other parts of him are attached to machines that made a beeping sound. As he continued to look around, the boy found himself on a plastic bed and in blankets…and as he studied his surroundings, he saw several chairs around him, as well as a wheelchair. Yes, this was a hospital all right…the questions he asked in his head were "How did I get here?" and "How long was I out?"

The boy turned his attention to the sound of a door opening. In walked a woman scribbling on a clipboard, fairly close to her early- to mid-twenties. Her long hair was tied together in a single bundle behind her head with a single ribbon. "Good morning, how's my cute little patient today?" she said, with sincere kindness in her voice, it was clear that she was a doctor judging by her scrubs and canvas jacket, "You were out for a few days now due to malnutrition. Do you not get enough to eat at home?"

The boy simply did not answer…he simply looked on at his doctor in curiosity. It wasn't that he didn't understand her…he could understand Common fine, it was just that he didn't understand what was going on. A few days? He was unconscious for a few days? But then…now he understood. "Um, are you all right? You haven't said anything so far."

"Where is that lady that brought me here?"

"Lady? Oh, you mean Duchess Gast! Yeah, she rushed you in here a few days ago—she was really by your side the whole time. Did you want to see her?"

"Yeah. I wanted to thank her…she bought me off from that horrible auction."

"Auction? You mean you're a slave?"

"My whole tribe captured and scattered on the way here. I was with my mom and dad on the trip here…I don't know what happened to dad because he was traded off elsewhere just like most everyone else, and my mom was sold almost six or seven days ago. Since then, I hardly ever got anything to eat—hungry slaves are desperate for any bit of fresh food, and they'll eat whatever food is thrown at them."

With that, the doctor looked at the boy with sympathy in her eyes. "I'm pretty sure that she'll be back in a little while. Duchess Gast has always been known to champion the rights of slaves—in fact, she's in agreement with the emperor himself in the goal to rid the nation of slavery…and if she bought you, then I'll expect her to come in a while. I can count on that…now sleep—it's at night and so you'll need it. And those machines will be dripping nutrients into your system while you're asleep. I'll see how you're doing in the morning." The doctor then put down her pen and her clipboard, and turned to leave. "Oh yes, and if you need me, call for Doctor Valentine."

The boy watched as Doctor Valentine opened the door, and left. There was not much for him to do, except fall asleep…


	2. Hope

_**A/N: And now the boy has a name—which explains why he is named Vincent Valentine…oh, how sad. But then again, this will be a Cinderella story of sorts, so expect it to turn upwards soon.

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The boy awoke again to the sight of finding his benefactor sitting on a seat next to his bed. "Are you all right?" she asked in his tribal tongue, "You had me worried for the past few days. I was afraid that I was too late to save you." The boy sat up, and looked to the lady who had saved him from future mistreatment from that horrid man. "I think I'm doing better now," he said in his own language, "and I think I'm ready to meet this person you wanted me to see."

"You understood me?"

"My father was the chief…he made sure that I was given a proper education so that I could succeed him as the next chieftain—so I had some private tutoring in several subjects as Common and Wutainese…I think so that I could deal with foreigners. Now that he's gone, I don't know what to do now that I have no tribe to lead."

"Well, I already have a position in mind for you, hence why I'm having you meet this one person…and she'll be here shortly…"

No sooner than when she had finished her sentence than Dr. Valentine entered the room. "Ifalna, it's so good to see you again, after all these years!"

"Likewise Lucrecia." Ifalna turned to the boy, and said in common, "Your majesty, this is Doctor Lucrecia Crescent-Valentine. I bought you from the auction to help her around the apartment as her son…in turn, she's going to take care of you."

Dr. Valentine looked at her friend in surprise, as did the boy to his benefactor. "Ifalna, I'm surprised! I thought you were against slavery! Besides, I don't really need the help!"

"Lucrecia, I've looked around your apartment—it's a mess! You barely even have time to enjoy yourself. You need someone in your life to help lift up your spirits, that's why I bought him from the auction…that and I saw that he was suffering so badly—you've seen how much he was starved, I couldn't let him suffer an even worse fate as a slave. So I'm doing the two of you a favor…he won't be a slave once you adopt him."

Dr. Valentine's eyes of surprise turned into shock, and a bit of anger. "Are you kidding? Adoption is not the same! Ifalna, I really appreciate what you're doing but…"

Ifalna stood up, and returned the look of anger to her friend. "Then do this as a favor to me. Adopt him and have him live with you as your son. Grimoire would never have wanted you to live the way you are now—he wanted you to be happy, and ever since he died, you've been letting yourself go. I can't stand to see you like this anymore…especially after _**that**_ happened. Just go and have him adopted—I'm not asking much…look, he's the only one left of his family that I could save…possibly even his entire tribe. You're the only hope he has now."

Dr. Valentine looked at her friend with some degree of anger—how dare she mention her late husband's name…but then again, she was right; Grimoire would not have wanted her to be like this. And after losing a child due to complications, she worked at the hospital barely keeping up a happy front. She then softened her look to the boy before her. "What's your name?"

"In my tribe, I'm called Ying Gan—the 'eagle eye'."

"I'll give you a different name then…you can always remember your tribal name, but I want to give you a name myself…one that will tie you to my family…my husband had always wanted a son, and so now I will call you Vincent Valentine, how's that?"

The boy simply smiled…or rather, Vincent smiled back at his adopted mother. But inwardly, he knew that his mother and father were still out in the town, as were the rest of his tribe…from then on, he vowed to seek them out when he was ready, and to set them free…

* * *

Five years later…

Vincent walked down the street from the school after his brief visit with his old friends. At one point, he was very popular—now his stepbrother had taken his place…funny how life can tend to torture you when you least expect it.

A year into his adoption to Dr. Valentine, he had found out that his father and mother had both died after they had been gunned down for trying escape…needless to say, the total abolishment of slavery had been accelerated and redoubled by the order of the emperor due to the assassination of both Duke and Duchess Gast, leaving their daughter Aeris to be adopted by a kindly woman named Elmyra Gainsborough. Despite the sadness that happened in the year he was with her, Dr. Valentine managed to be a proper mother to him—she was there to comfort him, and she was even there as a shoulder for him to cry on. However, all good things must come to an end, for it would be the beginning of his hell at home the day that Hojo had re-entered Vincent's life under the guise of reform, and with the appearance of his son Weiss. Some six months into their relationship, Dr. Valentine had suffered several stab wounds on her way back—the lacerations had all hit vital parts of the body halfway home. Since then, Vincent had been subject to abuse at the hands of not only Hojo, but his son Weiss—the two of them had double-teamed in order to make his life even worse of a hell. Oh how he wished he would die at the moment—for not only did Hojo drop him out of school, he forced him to do backbreaking labor at the apartment while only treating his own son well.

He had no time to think more on it—Hojo had demanded that he cook dinner tonight as well, and so he went to buy the proper ingredients for pasta. As he continued walking, Vincent bumped into someone and dropped his groceries on her…she was shorter than he was, and not to mention younger. Who was this? The girl looked back up at him with coffee-colored eyes, and a face that had caused his heart to skip a beat with its purity. "I'm sorry," he said, "here, let me help you up."

"No, it's all right," she said, as she stood up, she started watching behind her—obviously, she was being chased, "here, it's my fault, so let me help you out!" With that, the two of them started picking up the bags of groceries before people started stepping on them as the city guard had run past them. Once all the groceries were accounted for, the girl let out a breath of relief and watched as Vincent beckoned her silently to follow him and then watched as he put the groceries down and his body language told her that he wanted to have a word with her.

As soon as she was seated, Vincent found it well to ask her a question. "Care to explain to me why you have the guards after you?"

"Why is it any of your business that the guards are chasing me down? You're not the boss of me."

"Yes, but you did make me your accomplice in helping you to escape. I'd like to at least know why I'm going to be thrown in jail by an upper-class girl."

The girl looked to Vincent with surprise. "I could tell by your looks that you are at least upper class. Such pure skin as yours does not appear often on those of the lower classes."

The girl sighed—she was made out. "Back at home, I've had to go through hell—I have so much pressure placed upon me, and all by my dad…he says that he wants me to take over his position one day. You wouldn't believe how hard he works me! It's private teachers here, tutors there, and even a tea ceremony instructor—and the kendo teacher was very harsh too!"

"I can see the frustration you have to go through, and I don't envy you for that…although I do envy you that your parents have gone so far for your sake as to make sure you at have a future and are prepared for it. I don't know why, but for some reason, fate seems to want to deal me a bad hand…to the point that I lost quite a few precious things in my life…I'd rather not talk about it, but the point is; at least you're lucky to have parents who care and love you enough to add this sort of frustration to your life."

The girl put herself in a thoughtful state—from Vincent's perspective, this must be rare if she had to think this hard. After a few minutes of thought, the girl stood up and looked to him with a smile. "You know what? You're right! Now that I think about it, I now see why I had to go through so much—because they care. Thanks!" With that, she turned and ran the opposite direction, only pausing briefly to turn and wave good-bye to him. Vincent smiled a sad smile, picked up his grocery bags, and started walking away…he may never get to see her again, and Hojo was bound to whip him some more for coming home late.

* * *

Moments later…

He knew it was going to happen this way—Hojo had beaten Vincent to the ground with a folding chair. The back of his head still hurt from the impact, but he still managed to pull through and start cooking dinner. There was no way that Hojo would allow Vincent to eat at the table with him and Weiss, and so he had the foresight to sneak a small and fresh apple from a shopper at the public market into his satchel, and then discretely take it to his room to eat…that girl he met at the market was not a very good thief if she did not understand the rewards of subtlety—sure, she had the talent, the stealth, and the quickness, but she did not have the ability to calm herself in order to make things more fluid in her theft.

He never did feel good about stealing from other people, but he needed to do this in order to survive…in fact, in his spare time, he was so determined to survive that he mastered the art of the pickpocket in one week and placed himself in the grandmaster level of pickpockets. He rarely ever stole money—only fruit from other shoppers so that he could eat it immediately and then dispose of the evidence…however, he had always hoped to get caught so that the city guard would arrest him and then take him away to prison…at least jail time was better than simply sitting around and taking another beating at the hands of Hojo. However, he had found another way to escape—it was a small chance, but if he gets accepted, he'll be getting the training he needs to get his revenge one day.

Vincent finished his apple, and threw it out the window. A soft 'clunk' told him that his aim was dead-on as the apple core landed into the trash can of one of the neighbors. With that, he snuck his way to the restroom, brushed his teeth quietly, and then snuck back to his room to sleep in the futon.


	3. Botched Robbery

_**A/N: War! Huh! Good god y'all! What is it good for? Apparently building Vincent's skills and character, as well as giving him a clear goal. But seriously, the next lyrics would be "Absolutely Nothing".

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The first thing that Vincent did in the morning was to sneak a look into the mailbox—his letter should have come in by now. If all goes well, then not only will he be getting a dorm, but he will be able to continue his education, and he would be guaranteed a job in the future. Sure, with the job he'll be doing, he could very well die, but at least there are perks for surviving. Hopefully he would be able to scrounge up enough to pay not only for tuition, but for his own personal dorm—and hopefully Weiss would not catch on and torment him any further by enrolling into the same military academy as him.

His enrollment into the Wutainese Military Academy had been paid for with money he had pilfered from unsuspecting tourists and shoppers. So far, nobody has ever caught onto him stealing from them—Vincent was forever thankful that his father had taught him the virtue of subtlety from the day he could walk; and this was due to his tribe's dependence upon the hunt for survival. In any case, the second he is freed from Hojo, he swears to never take up upon stealing ever again…and to celebrate his last day of theft for the moment, he spotted one particular person walking by. Judging by the looks of him, he was biracial—part Wutainese, and part Westerner…he had the physique of a man born for war, but his striking features were his silver hair and green eyes. Perhaps this would be the challenge of a lifetime for him, and it would be a perfect final exam for his skill in theft. He simply started moving up to his target subtly, and then slowing down enough to have a bit of distance from him and have a brief look at what he could take…

That nodachi slung over his back was definitely a no-go…too noticeable to be taken due to its large size, although it would make for good pawning material judging by the quality of the blade. He then checked all the things he could take easily…hmm…that satchel at his side seems to be a good target…but he'll have to be extremely careful—a man such as that would not be easy to steal from. With his target set on mind, Vincent suddenly increased his pace until he was next to the man, and then made his move…only to have a tight grip around his wrist. "Nice try," whispered the soldier, "but you'll need to be better than that if you want to steal from me."

Vincent wasted no time; he threw a straight punch into his opponent's face, only to watch as the fist was caught in the hand of his target. Now there was definitely an opening, and so now he had to pull out his trump card. He closed in on his target, and quickly landed a successful knee to his opponent's family jewels, causing the soldier to loosen his hold before Vincent followed through with a stomp to his instep. Once the soldier let go, he started making a break for it. Another thing he was thankful to his father for; being trained from the day he could run to perform acrobatic feats and the graceful art of free-running.

He was well out of the crowd, and he found himself in an alley a good distance away so that he had lost the soldier—he'll have to make a break for home; it was the last place he wanted to be at, but it was at least a good hiding place. As he checked his surroundings, he made sure that the soldier was no longer tracking him, but instead, he found himself being tracked by a man with silver hair and a large gauntlet over his right arm. It wasn't until he heard the sound of a gun cocking behind his head that he realized that he had been found. Vincent quickly ducked, and tackled his pursuer to a wall before jumping onto the wall, kicking off it to jump onto the opposite wall, and then scale it before reaching the height of a roof and then launching himself onto it before running on the rooftop. He then noticed a man with a double-bladed katana facing him down and attempting a slash at him. Vincent barely sidestepped away from three cuts aimed at him before disabling his attacker with a knifehand strike behind his neck, and continued running until he streamlined his body as he jumped through an open window while cushioning his landing by rolling on the ground before he ran out of the inn with a naked and screaming woman accusing him of being a burglar.

Pausing for a second to catch his breath, Vincent checked to make sure nobody else was following him—good, and the apartment just so happened to be in front of him. His next priority was to run into apartment—it was a good thing that Hojo went to do god knows what at this hour…and so there'll be plenty of time to lay low for now…but in the meantime, he'll have to act inconspicuous and to go get those groceries before an even worse fate befalls him at the hands of his abominable foster father…

* * *

Unbeknownst to the target, one of his pursuers did manage to catch up. If Loz had not known any better, he would be calling this pickpocket a monkey by the way he seamlessly wove through obstacles in a graceful manner without wasting a single movement. For that, the little shit actually deserved some credit…but now he would have to move on in and… "Don't kill him," said Sephiroth over the Bluetooth, "we've found another candidate for the Turks."

"Brother, are you kidding? That kid tried to steal from you and not to mention he beat down three of us!"

"We can use that to bring him in. Emperor Godo has given us express permission to start this covert operations unit, and we will not disappoint him. We just need to train him proper, and then he could very well be an asset to the unit…that and I believe I know the proper incentive to get him to willingly work for us."

* * *

The market has always been hustling and bustling about—the perfect place to lay low. Combined with the fact that he was wearing a hoodie, Vincent practically melded into the crowd as he was placed on his daily routine of purchasing groceries for Hojo…in due time, he will get him back for those years of hell he had gone through…but first things first—war experience now, revenge later. However, as of now, he was still getting revenge…after all, how did Hojo expect him to go purchase his groceries without any money? The answer: Vincent stole from him and Weiss.

He then glanced through the shopping list, and browsed the stalls for his tonight's dinner…thankfully, the vegetable stall was his first stop—and a large burlap sack would do the job just fine. Tonight was going to be borscht and leg of lamb seasoned with rosemary and cilantro and marinated with honey, with a side of curried rice pilaf and mashed potato. This was not going to be a good night as Weiss likes his serving of borscht extra spicy with chili peppers in it…no doubt to torment Vincent by splashing the bowl full of soup onto him and letting the capsicum juice in the borscht burn him up in combination with the heat of the soup….that was where Weiss differed from his father. Where Hojo liked to cosh Vincent over the head with whatever blunt object was on hand (even if it were a fifteen-inch black rubber rod), Weiss enjoyed involving food in his torments as well as breaking every single one his valuable possessions right in front of his eyes. Vincent could not fight back against that spoiled bastard—he knew from experience that if he did, then Hojo would be in an even fouler mood and the bludgeoning would be even worse…running away would not do him any good either as Weiss seems to have eyes everywhere to foil his plans of escaping. But this plan for escape was under the nose of both Hojo and Weiss—and hopefully, he'll be at home before Hojo and Weiss so that he can intercept that message from the military academy and finally be free!

As he finally finished inspecting a potato, Vincent saw a hand covered in a form-fitting leather glove reach out and grab his wrist in order to make him drop the potato before putting it in his sack. When he looked up at the owner of the arm, he found, to his horror, that it was the soldier he had attempted to rob…he then found that his instincts were telling him that he was surrounded—once he looked around, he saw that the other three soldiers he had evaded were surrounding him...it would seem that he tried to rob their leader.

The look of triumph on the leader's face was very clear. "I was wondering if you and I could have a little chat."

* * *

_**Songs Played:**_

"_**Techock" by Waterflame—Vincent's escape; I figured that the Abandoned Mill stage in "Castle Crashers" seemed fitting at the moment.

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**_

_**Vocabulary:**_

_**Knifehand strike—this is popularly known as the karate chop; you open your hand such that your fingers are flat with your palm, and then strike with the bottom of your hand.**_


	4. Meet the Team

_**A/N: Thank god for Tom Clancy's games…especially Rainbow Six Vegas…for the inspiration!**_

_**

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The room was dark, save for a single light source that fell upon a table where Sephiroth sat in front of the subject. The dossier was in front of him in a manila folder—this kid was an orphan due to the earlier antics of his foster father. Godo had forbidden slavery, but at the time, there were still black market dealings in slave labor. Were it not for the illegal dealings of Don Corneo and his cronies, "Ying Gan" here would still have had his birth parents and he would have been next in line to be the chief of his tribe. He knew how it was like with the slavers—in fact, he was ordered by the emperor himself to execute Corneo in his own home and in front of his harem of slaves he had kidnapped from various tribes.

"Vincent Valentine," he said, reading his subject's westernized name, "foster son of Lucrecia Crescent-Valentine, and under the custody of Akudo Hojo. Real name is 'Ying Gan' in the tongue of the Taka Tribe. It says here that your father was the chief, and your mother was the daughter of his right-hand man…so technically you're royalty of sorts. Tell me, how does a kid go from the son of royalty to lowly pickpocket. I'm very sure that my sister has taught you better than that."

Vincent looked back up at Sephiroth, with some sort of rage in his eyes at the man. "If you cared that much about her _uncle_, then why weren't you at her funeral?" The way he said the word 'uncle' was so laced with poison that it actually struck a nerve in Sephiroth. "As a matter of fact, where were you when I was put under the custody of that bastard? Do you realize how much hell I've gone through? Yeah, I stole, but only to survive—Hojo and Weiss would never let me near anything good and food was only the beginning, so I had to take what I needed to last a little longer. In fact, if you hadn't stopped me in the marketplace, I would have had a chance to finally escape."

"You think application into the military academy is going to help your situation any? No. I've already informed the academy of your…activities. Needless to say that they weren't happy with someone with that sort of background—theivery? Attacking a soldier? You should be going to juvenile hall for what you did…however, I'm willing to let you out easy."

"I may not be the prince of a tribe anymore, but I still take my birth father's lessons to heart. I know there's a catch when I see one. What do you want in exchange?"

"Sharp fellow…in any case, I have some information for you: The military academy has told me explicitly that they won't take you—however, that doesn't mean that you won't be serving in the army. You'll be serving in a unit under me…it's going to be top secret work, and so you won't be allowed to speak of it."

Vincent looked on at his uncle in interest…perhaps this was indeed an opportunity in disguise. "Do I have to go back to that asshole?"

"Only if you want to."

"Then count me in—as long as I am free from Hojo, then I'll do anything you say."

Sephiroth smirked inwardly—he knew that this would bring him in…and judging from what he's seen, his nephew will make him proud…

* * *

Twelve years later…

The noise of the helicopter's rotors filled the air as the operatives geared up for combat. Five years ago, things had started to get better in Wutai—Godo had remained emperor for the past twelve years, and was doing a good job at it. He named his daughter Yuffie as his next successor under the condition that she be wed first. Two years had been spent to find her a proper suitor, but some three years ago, a new crime syndicate known as Deepground had reared its ugly head on the planet, and decided to strike at the world. The leader was a man by the name of Genesis Rhapsados…and his declaration of war hit the land of Wutai first, plunging it into a nightmare of bloodshed and corruption. In addition to drug and human trafficking, Deepground also funded terrorist cells…it was the job of the covert operations unit known as the "Turks" to hunt down those criminals and bring them to justice—any and all terrorists however, were to be shot on sight.

"All right everyone, listen up!" said the intelligence officer over the headset, "tonight's mission is going to be an easy one—we're here for this man…Heidegger Grendel…" As he had spoken, he pulled a photograph of a fat man with a spiky beard and scars all over his face out of his pocket. "Intel reports that that traitorous piece of shit is in the building we're heading for now, and he has info on where Genesis is. Our orders are to bring him in alive—any other tango you see, you are weapons free, leave no other witnesses. Bear, you and Wolf are going to provide support for Eagle. As soon as he's taken care of the guards on the rooftops, the three of you are to proceed into the building where you are to join in the assault. Rat, you, Rabbit, and Sparrow are going to lead the assault and kill the power the second the last sniper is dropped…first one to round up the bad guy gets a raise, and least number of kills has to treat the whole unit at the next get-together. Set your watches to go off at 2100 hours."

Once everyone had set up their watches, they made sure to check their guns for ammo after they all slipped on their sleek white ballistic masks with a design matching the animal of their code names in red and black paint similar to a kabuki actor's makeup; Eagle especially had to do so, considering that he was the designated marksman of the team, and the only one who can truly navigate through the jungles of Wutai as the other members were mostly foreigners some of whom with grudges against Deepground that he had personally hand-picked over the years after many of his original colleagues had died in missions before and during the campaign. He made sure that he had enough clips for his semiautomatic and silenced sniper rifle with a dual-mode scope for 6x magnification. He then checked his holster to inspect his 9mm semiautomatic handgun and the submachine gun chambered for 4.6x30mm rounds slung around his shoulder. The last piece of equipment that he checked was his wakizashi—this was a precious gift, and he would be sure to treasure it and remember the man who had given it to him as it had saved him in many blade fights.

His close-combat support would be the grenadier known as Bear—real name Rudy Vargas (he prefers "Rude"). His skills in unarmed combat put him on par with Eagle, Rabbit, and Rat, and his extensive knowledge in the use of all explosive ordinances and demolitions equipment proved invaluable in any assault. In the unit, he was known to be very cold and controlled; proof that professionalism was not dead—but Eagle had spotted him playing with children in an orphanage once…he has a vendetta against Deepground due to the fact that they introduced a new drug on the market that had been killing people in his neighborhood in Midgar. When Eagle extended the invitation into the unit to him, he saw this as a chance to get revenge for his people. Bear checked his grenade launcher, and made sure that he had enough frag grenades loaded into each chamber, and saw that he had two remote detonators and eight sets of shells for his sawn-off 12-gauge pump-action shotgun. He also checked to make sure that he had enough hand-thrown frag and incendiary grenades to aid in room-cleaning.

Not much is known among the other members of the team about Eagle's other teammate, Wolf; he had been with the commander since the unit had been formed and so it is only Eagle, and Sephiroth and his brothers that knows a bit more about him than any other member of the unit. His real name was Tseng Fei Long—a full-blooded Wutainese man from a long line of ninja. While not as well-balanced as his superior, Wolf had the edge in terms of sneakiness, and so it fell to him to perform recon work normally. However, when the two of them are paired together, Wolf rarely ever failed to aid in any sniping mission as a spotter for Eagle. His weapons of choice were a katana, a .45 ACP semiautomatic pistol, and a 9mm submachine gun.

The intelligence officer glanced at his watch, and then turned his gaze back to his team. "Mission begins in 30 seconds!" It was then that he pressed a button on the receiver of the radio. "Cid, slow the ship down a bit—we're dropping off Eagle, Bear, and Wolf first!" "Wilco Shin-Ra," said the captain over the radio, "dropping speed."

Rat's real name was Reynolds "Reno" Grayson. Aside from Sparrow, he is the newest member of the team—even before he was scouted out, he was the Kalm Police Department's equivalent of the FNG…no, scratch that, for FNG would be an insult…he was a detective before he racked up several sexual harassment charges, three counts of assault, four counts of taking bribes, one charge of substance abuse, and five counts of police brutality. When Eagle found him, he was pathetic: he was on death row, and he was on his knees begging for his long-dead parents to let him live with a promise that he'll change his ways. The second that Eagle offered to bail him out, Rat was ecstatic…he had found a chance to attain penance for his sins of the past…not to mention that he hated Deepground for introducing him to the same drug that killed off Bear's people. Over the past two years, Rat had been getting clean. He inspected his.50 AE semiautomatic handgun, his collapsible EMR, and his 12-gauge semiautomatic shotgun.

Sparrow's role was as combat medic. She was the one to call whenever a quick getaway was needed, hence why she was chosen for this job—but mostly for her skills as a medic. She was Elena Francois Baptiste fresh from medical school in Corel. Out of all her peers, she had the highest grades, and was an aspiring doctor…however, the day Deepground came, she saw many deaths at the hands of that crime syndicate—all the drugs they had introduced had infuriated her as a doctor…and so she joined for the sake of her future patients. She had a 9mm machine pistol, an assault rifle, and a rucksack filled with medical equipment in addition to a survival knife.

Tiffany "Tifa" Lockheart had the codename of Rabbit—she was the team's driver-slash-pilot and heavy weapons specialist. Like Bear, she is a skilled martial artist with an inhumanly high amount of sheer strength for a woman of her build that puts her on par with Eagle and Rat due to the fact that she and Bear studied martial arts under the same teacher. She once owned a bar in Nibelheim that Deepground sought to buy out and use as a hideout—instead they wound up having to burn the place down, and threatening the adopted child of her friend Lieutenant Colonel Barrett Wallace. She would never forgive them although the offenders were all killed that day. She tightened her fighting gloves, and loaded her light machine gun with a single drum of ammunition (her strength was such that she could use that gun as if it were a normal rifle), checked her assault rifle, and then finally her .500 S&W revolver.

"Mission begins in 5…4…3…2…1…we are a go!"

Upon the words being uttered from Shin-Ra's mouth, Wolf, Bear, and Eagle ran and jumped out of the doorway to begin their freefall to the jungle below. The three of them streamlined their bodies so as to fall down faster and to stabilize their target destination before they all unhooked a special grenade from their rucksacks, attached it to their guns in the fashion of a sound suppressor, and fired it into the ground, creating a small explosion of gel that broke their fall and evaporated a few seconds upon landing—this was a new toy invented by the ladies and gentlemen of the research and development department. Eagle turned to Wolf, pointed to his own eyes with his index and middle fingers, and then pointed upwards causing for his colleague to jump up above the foliage and then motioned for Bear to follow him after readying his silenced 9mm pistol. The two of them ran forward and into the jungle—the first thing that Eagle did was to fire two silenced shots into the darkness, with his efforts being rewarded with a soft thud as two guards took a 9mm bullet each to the forehead. After pausing to confirm the kill, something fell from the tree near the two men…it was a corpse hanging by the neck—no doubt Wolf's doing.

After running through the jungle for almost five minutes, the two of them made it to their destination—a cliff overlooking an apparently abandoned military base. "There's four tangos on the roof," said Wolf, "all of them are armed with semiautomatic sniper rifles. Take careful aim—if any one of them is noticed, it could throw a wrench in the operation."

Eagle nodded, took out pulled out the receiver to his two-way radio, and whispered, "Rufus, we've made it to rally point alpha. How's bravo team?"

"They're at rally point beta…waiting for you to fire the shots."

"Will do. Over and out." With that, Eagle shut off his radio, and took aim—there was one sniper for each corner of the compass; an easy kill indeed. He uncovered the lens cap to his scope, and took aim…

* * *

Five minutes later…

Heidegger was not surprised that this happened. In fact, he was flattered that it did…Godo sending in the Turks was actually a compliment to him. Nobody need know his reason for treachery—it was not exactly a good reason at all. He witnessed as the power went off—it was a standard tactic to kill off the snipers first and then aim for the power generator. After all, it was he who wrote the book—and if his guess on the current roster was correct, then there's no escape…Sephiroth's right hand had always served on many important missions as a Turk, and rarely anything ever escaped his aim…in fact, the boy was a prodigy given the fact that his whole tribe relied upon the hunt, making him the ultimate in special operations soldiers. The sound of gunfire and explosions ringing through the halls of the abandoned military base he occupied told him that they were close—they will never take him without a fight.

There was not much else he could do. He simply pulled out his trusty pistol, and checked its capacity—a full load, more than enough to do what it was that he wanted. After finding his weapon, Heidegger sat on top of his desk facing the double-doors…escape was useless either way. The door was kicked down, and he pointed his gun to the temporal bone of his skull only to have the gun shot out of his hand, get shot by a dart, and then everything went black…

* * *

_**A/N: This is practically a 'meet the team' chapter. "Team Fortress 2" trailers and "Rainbow Six: Vegas" and "Rainbow Six Vegas 2" can do that to you. And I'll bet nobody can guess Eagle's true identity.**_

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_**Songs Used**_

_**"Nine-tailed Demon Fox" by Toshiro Masuda: Sephiroth brings Vincent to the dark room.**_

"_**The Menagerie: On the Prowl" by Steve Vai and Marty O'Donnel: used as filler music up to the encounter of Heidegger.**_

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_**Vocabulary:**_

_**Wakizashi—a samurai short sword, normally wielded in one hand and in conjunction with a full-sized katana.**_


End file.
